A Blessed Easter 2024!

 Before the day is through, I would just like to greet everyone a Happy Easter!

The main altar of the Assumption Cathedral in Bangkok where we attended Easter Mass

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Back in Bangkok

We’re back in one of our happy places to be in again. Bangkok’s been one of our favorite destinations since the 2000’s. There was a time when we were here twice a year. Those trips were mostly business, actually academic-related as from 2001 to 2008 we had collaborative research network among ASEAN Universities hosted by Chulalongkorn University. I’ve returned several times after but the last time I was in Bangkok was in 2018 for a seminar on road safety. This is the first time we are in Bangkok with our daughter (her second ASEAN country) so we’re only very happy to share with her the experiences in Thailand.

 

Clearing immigration

Where to next and how to get there? Well, its to the hotel, of course, and we booked an airport taxi to simplify things. Taking the train would have been an small adventure but we had some hefty luggage with us so the taxi works right.

Marveling at the spacious terminal of Suvarnabhumi Airport

I will be posting about our travel to Thailand this coming April. I just have to organize the photos for this purpose.

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The International Shrine of Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage

I am sharing here photos of the Shrine of Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage in Antipolo City, Rizal. The shrine was recently declared as an international shrine by the Vatican but even before this has been an important and very popular pilgrimage site in the country. It is often mentioned alongside Quiapo (Black Nazarene), Baclaran (Our Lady of Perpetual Help) and Cebu City (Sto. Nino) among the most visited churches in the country.

The shrine as seen from the main access road

Another view of the shrine as seen from the main gate of the complex

The main altar of the shrine

Retablo dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe

P. Oliveros Street is the main access road to the shrine and connects to Ortigas Avenue Extension. This will be closed to vehicular or motorized traffic from 6PM (or even earlier) today until 6AM tomorrow for the annual Alay Lakad.

May everyone have a meaningful Holy Week!

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Apps for household chores?

We were looking at aircon units as the one in our daughter's room conked out. We tried to have it repaired but unfortunately the model was already phased out and there were no spare parts available for it to be fixed. At the appliance store, I spotted the latest models of washing machines. Apparently, you can now operate or run a washing machine through your smart phone. Of course, you will have to first load it or have someone load it and then activate and operate it remotely. Afterwards, you can also have someone remove the washed clothes from it. I thought perhaps this would be okay for parents who's children aren't yet adept to operating machines like this but can already be tasked to load and unload the laundry.

The future of household chores?

While there's that proof of concept for smart homes, I think most chores would still be far away from being done remotely. Perhaps robots and AI should be involved somehow? While that's tempting and something I'm sure certain people will be working on, there's nothing like doing these chores by yourself. Call me conservative but these chores are also life skills and if you think about it also helps you burn calories. So yes, it helps us be active rather than sedentary.

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Coconut House, Gyud Fud UP Diliman

Found this stall at the Gyud Fud hub at the University of the Philippines Diliman campus that serves a lot of coconut goodies including the popular coconut water, coconut ice cream and yes - halo-halo.

The sign says what they're about

Frozen delights - they have ice buko (a popsicle type of treat), ice cream and sundae on cups.

Halo-halo is a popular dessert especially during the dry season

Saba-macapuno halo-halo

I recommend Coconut House for your coconut or dessert fix. I think the only thing I thought they should have had was coconut water in the shell rather than in plastic bottles. That would be more authentic and definitely more environment friendly.

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Chocolate review: Another taste of Valrhona Manjari

Our cache included a box of Valrhona chocolates from our Singapore trip last year. The packaging for the chocolates have been updated and is now more colorful. Here are photos of this splendid chocolate.

Manjari is dark chocolate with candied orange peel

Details on the chocolate at the back of the package

Ingredients indicating the chocolate to contain at least 64% cacao.

Nutrition information

Storage recommendation for the chocolate - "keep in a dry place between 16 and 18 degrees C.

More information on the chocolate and the manufacturer on the inside of the package.

Recommendations on how to enjoy Manjari and other chocolates

Details on Valrhona

This is an excellent chocolate and one I would recommend for benchmarking. My only regret about this is that it is expensive and so one can't really buy enough to enjoy. Of course, excessive chocolates consumption is also bad for our health so moderation is also recommended for this.

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Nightscapes from the 4th Floor

I usually teach an evening class at graduate school. This means I have to go home at night at least once a week. While I have usually photographed the sunsets from our building, I have grown to like the nightscapes/cityscapes I see before heading home.

Last week's view from the top of our building

I will feature these nightscapes in addition to the sunsets in future posts.

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Chives Bistro, Antipolo City

There's this restaurant near where our daughter attends Kumon. Chives Bistro is at the ground floor of the building along Sumulong Memorial Circle in Antipolo City. It serves what we consider as comfort food including pasta, soup and dishes that go well with rice.

Beef salpicao with red rice on the side

Close-up of the beef salpicao

Truffle pasta

Our daughter usually has watermelon cooler for her drink. They have lemongrass tea that I prefer. This can be a glass/single serve or a pitcher. A part of their decor are plates with messages from various customers including praises for their food and service. They do serve good quality food/meals and have attentive staff. The prices are also reasonable for the quality and quantity of the food. I will try the other items in their menu in future visits to this restaurant.

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Chocolate review: Meiji Rich Matcha chocolate

Allow me to deviate again from my usual chocolate reviews that are usually about dark chocolates and build on yesterday's post on matcha chocolate. Here is another omiyage or souvenir from Japan that I received last year (this is obviously another late post of something I drafted last year).

This is the matcha or green tea variant of Meiji's chocolate bars. Of course, our favorite is the Meiji Dark variant.

Details including ingredients and nutrition information are at the back. This was not bought at a local store as it would have had a sticker with an English translation over the this side of the packaging.

Inside the foil wrap is the greenish bar

 

The chocolate is smooth and not heavy on the after taste I usually experience after eating matcha chocolates. This is a good matcha chocolate that I thought was better than the Kitkat variants that are more on the sweet side. This is a good intro to matcha chocolate for those who are hesitant as they don't really like green tea taste in their chocolates.

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Omiyage - Yamecha Matcha Yaki Chocolat

I had a visitor from Japan recently and was gifted with this omiyage or souvenir (pasalubong in Filipino). We haven't seen each other since 2019 and since then, he was able to obtain his PhD from Kyoto University. He's back in the Philippines to do another study after finishing one on the jeepney as his topic for his doctorate.

The box after the unwrapping of the package.

Yamecha matcha yaki chocolat roughly translates to Yamecha matcha (Yamecha green tea grilled chocolate.

The box contains 12 packs of the chocolate.

Each pack is practically bite sized as referenced with my palm.

The chocolate is on a paper cup.

Here is a description I got from the internet c/o eBay:

"It is a grilled chocolate using matcha of Yamecha, which is known as one of the finest teas in Japan. You can enjoy the rich and sweet taste of tea. "Rice puff" is mixed with "air in chocolate" to create a fluffy and light texture. "Yame tea matcha-yaki chocolate" uses Yame matcha from the Kou Honke Konomien, which was founded in the first year of Keio (1865). Konomien is the oldest tea wholesaler in Yame and is also known as the godfather of "Yamecha"."

It is a surprisingly delightful treat that's perfect as dessert or perhaps beside a cup of coffee or tea. I have not tasted this before so it's a very welcome omiyage that's very Japanese and brings back the nice memories from when I lived there.

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Publiq Coffee & Eats

We recently discovered this cafe at, of all places, the hospital. Our daughter had a viral infection that required for her to be admitted for treatment at The Medical City in Ortigas. So for 3 days we had to get our food mainly from the restaurants nearby. Fortunately, there were many choices including those at the Rockwell Business Center across from the hospital. I first went to Publiq to get some hot drinks for the wife and myself as we waited at the Children's ER for our daughter's test results late in the night. We later bought food and drinks from them after the results led to hospitalization for treatment.

Box seal for the cookies I bought as a treat and baon for our daughter

White chocolate walnut cookie

While I don't have photos of their pesto pasta nor of their cakes, pastries and pizzas, friends I told about this cafe say only good things about their food. They also have gelato or ice cream but I wasn't able to buy some for tasting. It seemed inappropriate to enjoy a stay at the hospital but at least the food from Publiq helped make our stay a bit comfortable. I would definitely buy food and drinks from Publiq and hopefully under better circumstances.

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Tien Ma's, Antipolo City

We have another favorite restaurant in Antipolo. Tien Ma's Taiwanese Cuisine has a branch at Puregold along Sumulong Circle across from Shopwise Antipolo. Here's what we had one time when we decided to sample several dishes.

Gen. Tso's chicken

Tien Ma's Taiwan-style fried rice

Fish fillet in black bean sauce

Their version of sotanghon

Honey walnut chicken

Vegetables and seafood over crispy noodles

Not shown in the photos are their xiao long bao, which are excellent. Special mention goes to their truffle variant. The staff are attentive but if the restaurant is crowded, they can get somewhat overwhelmed. Parking is not a problem as aside from the spaces in front of the restaurant, you can park at the basement of Puregold. We've also ordered from them via Grab on several occasions and they are very consistent with the high quality of their food.

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